Naivasha Clinic

The Kijabe Hospital has a small clinic in Naivasha. Naivasha is a town just west of Kijabe. It is near Lake Naivasha. The area has many large cut flower farms around it. The people of the area work on these farms. The farms are very similar to large greenhouse operations in the US. The majority of the cut flowers harvested here are flown out of Nairobi into Amsterdam (the location of the worlds largest flower auction) and then on to cities throughout the world. Many of the cut flowers sold in the US come from this area. HIV/AIDS is a real problem in this area. The Hospital has targeted this area because of this reason. During the post election violence in Kenya, Naivasha was very devastated. Many of the people have not recovered fully from the destruction and violence.
Throughout the year the Hospital has campaigns at various locations. These campaigns involve free exams, free prescription and evangelistic outreach. This past Thursday through Saturday there was one at the Naivasha Clinic. I volunteered to go on Thursday and Saturday. I did not have any preconceived ideas as to what to expect. We met at the Hospital on Thursday morning to travel to the Clinic. Naivasha is about 45 minutes away from Kijabe. As usual I had a full car of nurses, interns and clinical officers (similar to our Nurse Practitioners). When we arrived the crowds had already started to gather. We spent the first hour or so getting set up. The exam rooms were about the size of a bedroom. We put two desks in each room. There were a total of 6 rooms set up this way. Each room would have two patients in it at a time. We then sent up Coleman Tents around the area to be used as testing and counseling rooms. After the set up I was directed to the pharmacy to help fill prescriptions. The pharmacy consisted of a desk with several bottles of medicine stacked on it. I was working with two Hospital employees who had done this before. We filled prescription bags with medicine. Instead of bottles they use very small bags for dispensing medicine. We started with Amoxicillin 500mg tablets, putting 12 in each bag. 6,000 pills later we moved on to the 250mg tablets. If you’re wondering, Amoxicillin comes in a maroon and yellow tablet. I was looking forward to the 250mg thinking the color would change, it didn’t. Thankfully the next medicine was a different color. We did this all day.
I was looking forward to returning on Saturday, thinking that all the medicine would be dispensed and I would be assigned another duty. To my surprise they were still filling prescriptions. I was once again assigned to the Pharmacy. I was later told that because I was the accountant they thought I would be good at counting pills.
The gates were closed at noon on Saturday and the last patient received their prescription around 4:00. All those who helped the entire three days were very tired, yet they all joined together and danced to a few praise songs. If you ever visit you will see that most praise songs are accompanied with some sort of dance.
Over the three days there were over 3,000 patients seen by the Hospital Staff. The entire time the clinic was open there was a worship and praise team singing and sharing God’s word with those waiting. It is truly amazing to see how God draws people together for His Glory.

This was the Pharmacy set up. As you can see there are many people waiting for their medicine.

During the clinic mothers were able to get 2 kilos(approx 4.4 lbs) of porridge. The mothers here carry their babies on their backs in a piece of material called a canga.

This is the outside of the examination rooms. The rooms are in the background.

Here is where we filled the baggies. As you can see there were many bottles of pills to be counted.

This is the pharmacy from the outside.

This is the part of the evangelistic team. All through out the day the team sang and gave testimonies for those who were waiting.

Part of the outreach team distributed Bibles. Here is the area where the Bibles were being handed out. The people were very eager to get one.

This is also a picture of the Bibles being handed out.

Tents were set up to shelter the people from the sun while they were waiting.

More people waiting.

Kijabe Town Primary School

Moffet Bible College is a small college located here in Kijabe. The college is an AIC (African Inland Church) college. Linda and I take a class on Tuesdays at the college. We will update you on this class at a later date. There are 11 students in our class they are all 4th year students. One of the things the students have to do is called outreach ministries. This could include visiting the patients at the Hospital, leading study groups in Nairobi for recently converted Christians, teaching Bible at local schools, etc. One of the schools they visit is in Kijabe Town. Kijabe Town is a small village about 5 km from Kijabe. Many of the Kenyans who work in Kijabe live here. It is similar in size to Cyclone, TX. (We really miss good Texas BBQ). The School is called Kijabe Primary School.

In Kenya the school system is broken down into the following classes. Standard 1 thru 8 (Grades 1 thru 8 in the US). These classes are often on the same campus called a Primary School. All children in Kenya are eligible to attend Standard 1 thru 8 for free. The government funds these schools. The level of education varies greatly from school to school based on the area and the level of income of the parents. After finishing Primary School the students can attend Secondary School and complete Form 1 thru 4 (Grades 9 thru 12 in the US). The students must pay to attend the Secondary School. The majority of these schools are boarding schools. They are often affiliated with a church organization. The fees for these schools vary greatly based on the education opportunities available at the school. The schools in Nairobi are very similar to High Schools in the US. RVA plays many of these schools in sporting events during the year.

Back to Kijabe Town Primary, there are around 350 students attending this school. The Government supplies 1 headmaster and 5 teachers for the school. The parents of the students contribute a small amount in order to provide funds to employ 3 additional teachers (this is a common practice in the rural areas). Each class in self contained in a class room. There is not a Government funded lunch program, the children at this school are provided a lunch of beans and rice which is funded by a program started by a missionary at RVA. There is a school uniform policy at each school. School uniforms are a big business in Kenya. Kijabe Town is a very poor area and as you can see from the pictures not all the students can afford to wear uniforms, but this does not keep their excitement down.

There was a need for someone with a vehicle to take the Moffet students to this school on Tuesday afternoons. Our class at Moffet is on Tuesday mornings, this worked in great with my schedule, so I agreed to take the students. The Moffet students teach Standards 4 thru 8 a Bible lesson from 2:35 to 3:10 once a week. Imagine this happening in Lorena. The road (a mule trail) is dirt and rock. The 5 km (3.1 miles) takes around 20 minutes to travel. I do not have to use the 4 wheel drive when it is dry, but I am told when it rains it is a must. It runs along the side of the mountain and is wide enough for a vehicle to pass a goat or cow. I have only met one car (I backed up until I could pull onto the side at let it pass).

The first week only two students went. The next week they said a few more were going to come. Our car has a total of 7 seats in it so I told them that would not be a problem. When I arrived the next week there were 8 students waiting to go. Needless to say it is a very tight fit. This is a very common theme in Africa, there is no such thing as wasted space. They put as many people in car that they can, fill your cup with chai as full as they can, put as many people around a table as possible, etc. One student told me it would make the ride go smoother since there was more weight in the car. That is one way to look at it.

The students at the school are very excited to have the Moffet students teach them. They are eager to learn about the Bible and the promising words that it has in it. Many of these students come from very poor families and do not have a lot to look forward to. It is a very humble experience for me each week as I see their excitement and eagerness to learn more about our wonderful God, knowing that many will go home in the evening to a home without running water or electricity, probably sleep on a mat on the floor and wear the same school clothes all week. If only we all could be as excited about our God! Keep these kids in your prayers!

Here are some Pictures of the School.

This is the lower Primary Wing. It has been very dry in the area and the crops have not done well. Most of the parents are farmers and rely on the crops for their income.

This is the upper Primary Wing. The small house on the left is used to keep the wood in for cooking.

Here are the students I take to teach, The person on the left is a teacher at the school.

This is the inside of the Standard 5 class. I take turns each week sitting in a different class. The children really enjoy hearing about Texas. (Jane, this could be your class)
Kids in Africa are not much different than in the US. This is their funny pose!

Here are the kids getting out after class.
This group of boys surround the car each week as we are leaving. They are so excited to have visitors at their school.

Life in Kijabe - September

September has been a very busy month here as I am sure it has been in most countries. School started for Luke, Tracy and Emily on September 2nd and for Baxter the next day. The school is about a 10 minute walk from our house and it is all up hill. We actually calculated the increase in elevation the other day and it is approximately a 500 foot rise. Needless to say, we are tired and winded each and every morning. I keep thinking that we will get in shape but it doesn't seem to be happening very fast. We walk with our dog Carly and the walk involves going through the cemetary by our house, through the hospital parking lot and up a large flight of stairs and then along a dirt road into the school gates and then up more stairs and across a field and then more stairs and then we are at school. I have included some pictures below of the walk and of the first day of school.



Emily, Tracy, Luke and our neighbor Paul on the first day of School



Hospital parking lot



These are the steps that are commonly refered to as the "deathinator"



This is the final climb up to school which you can see in the background



Tracy and Luke visiting with friends on the first day of school

The 3rd day of school, the entire Titchie campus took a field trip which was a hike around Kijabe. Here are a few pictures of the hike. It was really interesting and very pretty. The kids enjoyed learning a little bit more about Kijabe and the history of the school and the area.



All of titchie at the beginning of the field trip



Emily's class before the field trip



The kids going through the forest on the field trip



An old tree on the field trip



The bus back up to the school. I thought it was funny because the door is on the other side of the bus because they drive on the left side of the road over here.

My birthday was September 9th and the kids and Philip surprised me with a couple of presents wrapped in a Kikoy (skirt type wrap) and a trip to Lake Naivasha on the Saturday after my birthday. The drive was only about 45 minutes and only had one bad area which I have included a picture of. It is a very steep and bumpy dirt road but we made it without too much trouble. After we ate at the restaurant, we went swimming for only about 10 minutes because it was a bit cold. We then walked down to the lake because the people there said we could see hippos in the water. We walked awhile and then turned to go down to the lake and were surprised to see a giraffe standing right there behind a tree (not behind a fence just behind a tree!).
We were able to see hippos but they were very far out in the water and they really looked like rocks to me.



Birthday Morning! We look very tired and we really were in this picture. We get up much earlier here because Baxter has to be in class at 7:45 and we have quite a walk. It is always an adventure but it does wear us out!



This is the day we left for Naivasha. We saw some monkeys on the road before we even left Kijabe.



This is the dirt road leading down the mountain that we took on the way to Naivasha



When we arrived at the restaurant we again saw monkeys. They say here that eventually you don't get so excited when you see the monkeys. We are beginning to think they are quite common.



Swimming at the pool at Naivasha





Another view of the pool area and Baxter, Tracy and Emily by a small bridge leading to the pool area. Luke stayed back in Kijabe to go on a hike with his class.



Here is the first giraffe we saw





We took some pictures of the giraffes in the background so that you could see how close we were to them



A closeup of a giraffe



Not a closeup of the hippos. They really look like rocks but we can zoom in on this picture and you can see that they are actually hippos.

On September 20th Titchie had field day. It was a lot of fun for the kids and consisted of different activities that each class for the younger titchies or group of older titchies rotated to. The theme was Pirates of Kijabe.



Tracy swabbing the deck.



Tracy playing tag at field day



Luke in the three legged race







Emily and her team of classmates playing tug of war. They were undefeated!



Emily in the three legged race

On Saturday, September 27th, all of the school participated in Outreach Day. Tracy and Emily baked cookies and made cards and delivered them to patients at the hospital. Luke went to Kijabe town and took firewood to some widows and then they played soccer with some of the children. I don't have many pictures of this because I had a different group of children that I was baking cookies with and so I wasn't able to take pictures of our kids.



Luke on top of the car waiting to drive down to Kijabe town



I had a group of Korena girls here at our house and they were fascinated with the cow rugs we brought from Texas

The kids are also doing Pinewood Derby at school. I have a picture of Tracy and Luke working on their cars.



Tracy and her car



Luke and his car

All of the kids are playing soccer now. It is a recreational league for Luke, Tracy and Emily although the games have been very exciting! Here is a picture of Luke blocking a shot.



Baxter is also playing soccer and Jr. High plays intermurals first and then after mid-term plays other schools.



Baxter is in the blue jersey # 15 and assisted the other blue jersey in making a goal

There is a baby that was abandoned at the hospital at the beginning of September. My friend Miriam and I are taking care of her in our homes until they can find a place for her. It has been such a blessing for everyone involved and we are really praying that she will find a Christian family to take her. The kids have enjoyed having her here and I have also. I don't want to get too attached because I know it is going to be heart breaking to let her go. Please pray for her also that she will be place in a loving, Christian home. Her name is Hope.



Tracy burping Hope after a morning bottle



Luke and Hope



Baxter and Hope

Emily has been helping also but I don't have a picture of her and Hope yet.



Hope is wearing a hat that Gramma (Philip's mom) crocheted.

Here are a few other random pictures.



This rainbow cropped up one evening. It was quite a site and a nice reminder of who our creator is and how perfect He is.



These cows were grazing in Nairobi on the side of the road on the way to the airport. When it is dry, the Maasi bring their cattle to graze wearever there is grass.



These are the scrawny chickens that we bought from the man who sells chickens door-to-door. They had so little meat on them that we were not even able to eat them. They were as hard as a rock!



This is a jakaranda tree in nairobi.



Getting crushed rock for the driveway.



Youth Sunday at church.